traci in the swamp

Technology killed the Arcade

Now I like technology as much as the next person.  I own a Nintendo DS, an iPod Touch and have favorite websites to visit to get my gaming fix.  But I also love arcades.  There's nothing like the flashing lights, bad pizza, or trying to win the cheap teddy bear (gotta get more tickets) or beating your personal best high score (personally, I'm the Queen at Galaga and Ms. Pac Man). I can remember growing up visiting these places.  The Madeiria Beach Fun Center , St. Pete Beach Amusement Center and the Treasure Island Fun Center (see a theme here) were often a weekly fixture in my childhood.  And now it's official, all of these (original) places are closed.

The St. Pete Times ran a great "special report" about the closing of St. Pete Beach Amusement Center (which ironically enough, was only a block from my first apartment).  This is the last arcade on the beach and now it's closed.  I vaguely remember reading that the Treasure Island Fun Center relocated, but that happened too.  I also fondly remember every time I visited the Pizza Hut (which is also now gone) playing Ms. Pac Man (this continued until my twenties - I know, I know, I'm a kid).

Well, I remember my dad always saying this,  "everything changes, they get rid of the old and replace it with the new" and that's obviously very true.  I'm very sad about the loss of my childhood haunts, but I guess that's all part of growing up.

Florida Library Days - Tallahassee, Florida

Every year, the Florida Library Association holds Florida Library Days in Tallahassee.  It's an opportunity for library leaders to talk with their legislators about library issues.  It's especially important this year, with the State budget cuts.  So, I took advantage of this opportunity and spent last Tuesday and Wednesday meeting with two state representatives and one senator.  USF actually was nice enough to pay for my travel costs and registration.  The only caveat, I would volunteer to work at the sign-in desk.  This was actually a lot of fun and gave me a great opportunity to meet a number of interesting people.  I also got the chance to meet my school's new Director and chat with him for a bit. Tuesday afternoon, the Broward County Library group was nice enough to let Melanie (a classmate) and me tag along on their visits to their respective legislators:  Elaine Schwartz and Franklin Sands.  And then the Alachua County Library District welcomed me on their visit to our Senator Oelrich Wednesday.   All in all, this was an excellent opportunity to learn about library advocacy and the need for continued support from elected officials.

And Tallahassee is still as beautiful as I remember when I last visited more than ten years ago.  Way back when, in high school, I even served as a Senate Page.  But this time, I drove alone, which was even more of an adventure, since Tallahassee has real hills, something I forgot until I was nearly at the top of a few waiting for the stoplight to turn green.  Once it did, I had to step off the brake real quick and onto the gas, all without hitting the guy in front of me or rolling back and hitting the guy behind me (yes, I've obviously always lived at sea level and haven't had to worry about these things).  Anyway, I survived to tell about it, at least. 

Hopefully, I can convince Matt to take a trip with me one day, even though it is the land of FSU. Hmm...we'll see.

My favorite comic strip

I'm a comic junkie, I have my Sage feed set up to catch a couple of my favorite ones (especially For Better of for Worse - which is my soap opera) and of course, my favorite Unshelved. 

I love sarcastic (witty!) humor, although it does get lost on a lot of people, so if you have any comics that are like that, please send them my way.

Thoughts of my (short) time here...

I haven't lived in Gainesville long.  But I have learned a great deal during my five months here - today being the anniversary of our big move.  So please allow me to enlighten you a bit, with some observations:

• Just a short trip outside of the Gainesville city limits, will bring you out to farmland, cattle roaming free and the greenest land I've ever seen.  You can see hay/feed stores, tractor suppliers, and horse farms every few miles.
  
• They actually have places where you can go "mud trucking".
• It's cheaper (and probably tastier) to buy produce from the guy selling it on the side of the road, than at Publix.
• There are actual (albeit small) rolling hills here. 
• Driving with my window down when it's in the low 70's, with the radio off, feeling the weather changing and watching the farmland as I pass, is one of the most relaxing things I've done in a long time.
  
• On two lane highways, when an ambulance drives by, people actually slow down and pull over quickly....shocking.
• On two lane highways, sometimes you do have to pass someone and although it's scary, you do survive it.
• When the Gators win, it's a good day.  When they loss...
• Gainesville is serious about their trees.  Gainesville is actually one of the southernmost cities, where deciduous trees populate and often times there are rules that won't let people cut trees down.
• And finally...I've met some of the nicest, most approachable people since I've been here and am looking forward to meeting a lot more.

I'm finally (almost) my age!

I'm a video game nut (gasp)!  Usually when Matt comes into my home office he'll see me playing Hexalot or some online game that I somehow discovered and became addicted to instantaneously.  It was only natural for my graduation gift Matt bought me the super cool Nintendo DS lite.  So, I've developed something else to become addicted to and have played Paperboy, Rampage and Yoshi's Island more than you care to know .  And now for an early birthday  present, Matt bought Brain Age² so I've been enjoying the pressure of trying to reach my age over the last few days and complete the daily training and testing my "brain age".

Well, up till just a few minutes ago, I was in my late 40's - early 50's, which Dr. Kawashima enjoyed telling me is roughly 15-20 years older than my actual age and that my "brain was very tired".  Finally, I got close to my real age.  So needless to say, I had to post about and share my happiness. 

How is Google so amazing?

I would love to know how Google consistently manages to be a leader in so many areas.

Check out this video.

This isn't about football! Well, not at the beginning at least.

Matt heard about an interesting website on one of his podcasts.  Matt often hears about interesting websites and tells me about them.  That's how I learned about Slide, Flickr, and LinkedIn.  Aleit, I haven't updated my Slide or Flickr account since I started my blog, but I am good intentioned and do have the accounts set up, right?

Anyways, the site that Matt told me about is pretty neat and I think I'll be using it a little more than the other sites I just mentioned.  Geni.com is a website that helps you build your family tree.  Geni.com was created by the same guy that was the COO of PayPal before PayPal was bought for a gazillion dollars by ebay. The cool thing about the site is that it is very intuitive, links you to others through email and lets you message other people that you might think are related.  It's really neat and I've just spent about 2 hours playing on it adding my family (the little that I actually know) and then watching Matt as he added his. 

Nothing like new hobbies, right? 

P.S.  The Bulls won against FAU, but barely.  (I keep hoping USF's luck isn't just a fluke and that they continue to do well the rest of the season) They're now in the top five!  I wish I could say that same about UCF and UF.

Once again, 3 for 3!

I'm keeping my toes crossed as I write this, so I don't jinx myself or the team, but USF keeps moving up in the college football rankings - this time moving up from #23 - to #18.  This is such a great deal for USF and one of those important moments in their history.

The only thing that did annoy and offend me, is the fact that the St. Pete Times replaced the news about USF's win against UNC with the Gators' win over Ole Miss on the Times' website.  Now I know the Gators are the 2006 National Champions (I'm a fan too), but they are not the home team (last time I checked University of Florida is in Gainesville, I drive by it every single day - I should know!  And the University of South Florida is in Tampa- the same general place the Times' is located - geez!).  Anyway, I'm stepping off my high horse/soap box now - just had to vent about that.

UCF also beat Memphis Saturday - 56-20 (ouch!).  I must have missed this story, but apparently there were no water fountains built in the stadium, until just this week.  President Hitt was kind enough to help pass out water bottles to fans and new water fountains were installed before the Saturday's game.  This didn't keep fans away though, and 42,153 people came to see UCF win again! 

I continue to remain very proud of three Florida teams.

There is a first for everything: USF Ranked #23!

Well, the time has come and I couldn't be prouder to be a graduate of two excellent Florida schools.  USF is officially a ranked football team for the first time.  The AP Poll has USF ranked as #23 and the USA Today Poll has USF ranked as #24. Matt and I have been USF fans for a while and the picture to the left is evidence (taken when we saw USF play NC State in Charlotte, NC in the Meineke Car Care Bowl 2005).

 

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In the other part of the state, UCF played their first game in their new stadium.  The Knights played the Texas Longhorns and although UCF lost, Texas did not have an easy game by any means.  This article sums it up perfectly.

And in local news here, UF beat Tennessee and moved up to #3 in the rankings.  (Sorry Tonia!!)

The Football Gods are smiling on USF

Matt and I met some of his friends at Ale House here in Gainesville.  We waited until the last minute to leave as we were watching the Auburn vs. USF game and somehow USF was winning.  (It was only the first half, so I was trying not to get my hopes up).

We got to Ale House and thankfully the game was on (not sure how it couldn't be, since Ale House does have about three dozen televisions).

Somehow USF managed to do, what many thought was impossible.  They beat #17 Auburn - 26 to 23 in OT.  Quarterback Matt Grothe once again showed his talent throwing a 14 yard touchdown pass in overtime.  USF could have won this game in regulation, if Delbert Alvarado could have actually made any field goals. 

Regardless, USF beat Auburn and I have a sore throat from screaming at Ale House!

Go Bulls!!!